Since 2007, Stevens has been home to the Center for Secure and Resilient Maritime Commerce (CSR),
the nation’s lead port security research and education center, which
conducts innovative research, develops new technologies and delivers
educational programs to enhance our nation's maritime security.

What’s different this year is its leadership. In October, Dr. Julie
Pullen took the helm as Director and began intensively focusing the CSR
on proactively getting its tools and technologies into the hands of end
users like the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy and emergency first
responders so they can be put to practical use.

“In the past the CSR has been instrumental in responding to
unanticipated accidents around our ports because we have situational and
predictive technologies to bear at hand,” said Dr. Pullen. “Now we want
to make sure we’re collaborating proactively with those on the front
lines.”

The CSR was created in 2007 after the Department of Homeland Security solicited proposals from academia for establishing Centers of Excellence
aimed at conducting multidisciplinary research and developing education
initiatives in areas important for America’s defense and safety. DHS’
goal was to take advantage of the unsurpassed research capabilities and
intellectual capital of U.S. colleges and universities to fill knowledge
and technology gaps in the department.

One of the centers DHS wanted to create would be focused on maritime and
island security, and given the strength of its renowned Davidson
Laboratory for vessel testing and marine monitoring and forecasting,
Stevens – with the University of Hawaii in Honolulu – was designated a
lead institution in DHS’ Center for Maritime, Island and Remote and Extreme Environment Security (MIREES).
MIREES is made up of two centers – Stevens’ CSR, which specializes in
port security, and the University of Hawaii’s Center for Island,
Maritime & Extreme Environment Security (CIMES), which focuses on
remote and island security.

Port security is, without a doubt, a pressing issue today. In its
four-year history, the CSR has worked tirelessly to achieve its core
vision of improving understanding of anything associated with “the
maritime domain” – i.e. infrastructure, people, cargo and vessels that
are in or near seas, oceans or navigable waterways – that could impact
the nation’s security, safety, economy or environment. In fact, in its
early years, the CSR’s observation, monitoring and prediction
capabilities were critical in the emergency response to the recent
Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Hudson River US Airways plane
incident, earning “Impact Awards” from DHS.

Today, there are equally serious threats facing our ports – from climate
catastrophes like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to worst-case
terrorism scenarios like dirty bombs and improvised nuclear devices
brought ashore via hijacked small vessels. Resources and knowledge
cannot be holed up in academia; they must be at the fingertips of first
responders.

“Ports can be especially vulnerable because they are usually located near major urban metropolises,” Dr. Pullen said.

With its numerous academic, public and private partners, Stevens and the
CSR is currently involved in three port security vessel detection
research projects – space surveillance, HR radar and over-the-horizon
surveillance, and nearshore and harbor surveillance. Each project is
aimed at developing processes, systems, sensors and algorithms for
better detecting and tracking ships in harbors, seas and oceans. Other
research is focused on monitoring and forecasting ocean conditions and
weather that might threaten ports, and yet another research project
works to build a more resilient maritime transportation system by
developing essential tools and processes to improve preparedness,
response and recovery.

Under Dr. Pullen’s leadership, all of the CSR’s work has the ultimate
goal of moving beyond situational awareness to be able to predict and
respond to security situations before they get out of hand. She brought
to the CSR personal expertise in this area – especially predicting
chemical, biological and radiological dispersion in coastal cities in
the event of a terrorist or accidental release. She was a principal
investigator on a DHS project to improve such prediction capabilities by
integrating multi-scale modeling of air, sea and buildings, and was
also a member of the management team for the midtown Manhattan 2005
Urban Dispersion Program tracer release study, the largest of its kind
in the U.S. She also pioneered the two-way linkage of a high-resolution
mesoscale atmosphere and ocean model for realistic applications in the
coastal zone, which resulted in superior forecasts and led groups like
the Navy SEAL’s to put a state-of-the-art, high-resolution, globally
relocatable coupled ocean, atmosphere and wave model into operational
use.

In addition to managing its research initiatives, Dr. Pullen is helping
the CSR continue to meet its educational mission to develop the maritime
security workforce by transferring its research into highly relevant
graduate education, professional development programs, and innovative
K-12 programs and workshops. The CSR offers maritime systems master’s
degree fellowships and summer internships. It also runs a Summer Research Institute (SRI)
where undergraduate and graduate students from all over the country can
take part in hands-on maritime security research, as well as workshops
that introduce K-12 teachers to port security applications in
collaboration with Stevens’ Center for Innovation in Engineering and
Science Education (CIESE).

According to Dr. Pullen, it is some of the student work that leads to
the biggest breakthroughs that can really help first responders in the
field. SRI students from the 2011 program, for example, helped develop a
maritime security technology called Magello that pulls together
disparate maritime modeling and data sources into one easy-to use-web
interface to provide critical, real-time environmental data needed to
make informed emergency management decisions, especially related to
radiological threats to ports. It is generating great interest among
representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies.

“It’s thrilling to see the accomplishments of students involved in our
work,” said Dr. Pullen, who served as a faculty mentor for the
“Consequence Assessment” SRI team that was responsible for Magello.
“They take what we teach them and run with it, and it leads to
incredibly important enhancements for the CSR.”

Beth DeFares, Director of Education for the CSR, credits Dr. Pullen with
the leadership and oversight that allowed this year’s SRI students to
reach such unprecedented levels of success.

“The thing that impresses me the most is how she allows the students to
discover things on their own,” DeFares said. “She provides the
direction, the tools and the mentorship, but then allows them to engage
in their own learning process. They wind up learning more and ultimately
taking ownership of the projects they are engaged in so they can
achieve truly great things.”

Dr. Pullen’s vision of applying the CSR’s research and activities in the real-world was also evident in the Magello project.

“Julie was able to finally push students to integrate different projects
that have been taking place across Stevens for so many years,” said
Talmor Meir, a Ph.D. student in Ocean Engineering who is affiliated with
the CSR and involved in building Magello’s atmospheric model.